Railfan Technology > Question about refurbished desktop PC

My desktop PC has gone bad after 7 years.
I was using Adobe Acrobat X Pro and Photoshop Elements 10 on it.

From what I understand neither of those programs work with Windows 10.

I was thinking of getting a refurbished desktop that still runs Windows 7.
I don't want to pay Adobe the monthly fee they now charge to run their programs from the cloud.

Anyone have any experience with purchasing a refurbished PC? Where did you purchase it from?

If that is not a viable option can you suggest alternatives to Acrobat and Photoshop?
I use the Acrobat for making and editing .pdf files.
The photoshop is used for enhancing picture an document scans.

Thank you in advance.

I can't speak for Acrobat X Pro, but I installed my old Elements 9.0 on my daughters laptop and it works fine with Windows 10. For what it's worth, I was totally against the whole software rental thing myself for the longest time, but then I started looking at how much money I spend on other things in my life and it didn't seem like such a big issue any more. I think I pay something like C$11 a month for Lightroom and Photoshop, which is just slightly more expensive than running down to McDonalds for a Big Mac meal when I'm to lazy to cook.

Dwayne

NewEgg.com is a fairly reliable source for refurbished computers. If you get a Dell Optiplex series you will be getting one without all kinds of mumbo jumbo software on it.

I have bought a few refurbs running windows 7 from that auction site and all of them have had no problems whatsoever. Shop around, there are some great deals from computer shops. And yes, go with Dell Optiplex.

I've had great luck with a refurbished Asus desktop from MicroCenter (http://www.microcenter.com/) that I use for photo work and some gaming. Pretty sure they do mail-order if there isn't a location near you.

I have not used it with the programs you mentioned, but Windows 10, like 8 (and probably 7) offers the possibility of resolving compatibility issues. It's been a long time since I tried using this, but the procedure is to find the program file (.exe) and right click on it. A drop down menu will appear and you can choose "Troubleshoot compatibility" from the menu.

Of course, you don't have a Windows 10 machine to try this, but perhaps someone would allow you to install it on their Windows 10 PC. This does not always work, as I found out with some older editions of DeLorme's map software. The compatibility issue also affects Apple products -- my old iPad 2 cannot be updated to the latest software, and some programs won't run on the latest OS, so I can't use them on the iPad mini. Fortunately the old iPad soldiers on, if more slowly than when it was in its youth.

You might find one here:

https://www.dellrefurbished.com/desktop-computers



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/28/18 12:28 by exopr.

exopr Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> You might find one here:
>
> https://www.dellrefurbished.com/desktop-computers

I should have thought of that, since I purchased a refurbished laptop from them in 2006, and it's still working, albeit with an occasionally noisy fan. I don't use it much, and have installed a version of Linux on it.

I was impressed with Dell a few years ago when I received notice that there was a recall on the power supply of my Dell desktop. A technician came to the house and changed it out. Great customer service!

Awhile back I purchased a bunch of used Dell machines that ran XP, mainly using various vendors that Amazon fronted for. All the machines worked, but there was a lot of variation in installed software. It was quite an adventure figuring out each machine's idiosyncrasies. It was not like taking a new machine out of the box, plugging it in, and following some prompts.

JBWX

I had a laptop that got full of virues. I put android in it
and it ran for anouther 4 years before the battery went
south. so I retired it........Swede...........Albany,OR........